


Phyllobates terribilis

by theghostiesarecoming



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Angst, Cults, Dom/sub, Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 04:08:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13872798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theghostiesarecoming/pseuds/theghostiesarecoming
Summary: Jenivieve Lynn had a /mostly/ normal life until she became the center of Sherlock’s newest case.





	1. Her

Word Count: 1469

Johns POV

“Get up John, I’ve got a case!”

I rolled over in bed and looked at the alarm clock next to me. “My god Sherlock, It’s five in the morning, what the hell?” I got out of bed and put on one of my jumpers.

“We need to get there early, she’s only open in before 7am,” he yelled from across the flat.

God, we were going to wake Mrs. Hudson or more likely all of Baker Street. “Who? She? Sherlock! Answer me, what is happening?”

“Like I said, I have a case and I need to get to her place right now.”

I picked up my phone and met him in the living room. He looked almost.. anxious? I couldn’t place it but he was different.

“Come on John, the game is afoot!” He walked down stairs with me trailing after him. How can the game be afoot? I didn’t even know there was even a case until just now. We got in the waiting cab and he didn’t say a word. Sherlock continued to just look out the dark window. After a little while, he pulled out his phone and sent a quick text message. When we stopped about 10 minutes later, I looked at the flats outside. Sherlock walked to the closest one with plants all around the door and a sign that read ‘Flowers’ in a fancy font. I recognized a few of the plants, mostly flowers and herbs. Wait… that couldn’t be a castor bean plant..not here in the city..could it?

We walked in and up the stairs, this flat was very similar layout-wise to 221 B. Baker St. We passed by a little sign with flowers on it saying ‘Open 7am-7pm’ pointing to the shop on the ground floor. Sherlock pulled out a silver key and unlocked the door quietly. We went into the cluttered flat. There were books everywhere but you could tell this place belonged to a young woman. There were lots of lamps and a whole wall growing flowers. The whole flat was lit up. As many old books and papers as there were everywhere, there was an equal amount of trinkets. Everything was a mix of pastels and paper. Sherlock walked towards a table with flowers, different colour liquids and a polka-dot bowl sitting on it and inspected the liquids.

A girl walked out of the kitchen barefoot in shorts and a sweatshirt. She looked young, around 25 or so but small. Her black hair was up in a messy bun and she walked with grace. She looked towards Sherlock.

“Hiya Sherl,” she said with a smile.

 

Jen’s POV

I had been playing violin since 3 am. Not having been able to sleep, I was absent mindedly running through my old Suzuki books by memory. I think I was on one of the Vivaldi Concertos… I couldn’t remember which one. My phone buzzed on the edge of the counter. I set my violin down in its case and grabbed my phone just as it fell, a text message popped up from..Sherlock? I hadn’t heard from him in a couple months.

‘You have 10 min, make sure I’m alone’

“Pfft, thanks for the notice,” I said aloud to no one in particular. How would I determine if he was alone? I had no one else in the flat, not even a cat. Oh well. I wasn’t surprised he was coming over this early in the morning, it used to be a regular occurance. I looked around my flat, it had flowers and labels everywhere from my little business that was opening up downstairs in a couple hours. I put some tea on and tidied a bit, clearing off my chairs and lamp tables. I went back in the kitchen to find some snacks. Exactly at the ten minute mark I heard the door unlocking and someone step in.. wait no, two people step in. Oh.. that’s what he meant by ‘make sure I’m alone’.

I walked out of the kitchen towards Sherlock. “Hiya Sherlock,” I said grinning. I couldn’t help but be pleased to see him. He looked better than the last time I saw him.

He looked up as I came to a halt in the middle of my living room. “Hello Jenivieve. It’s sherlock not Sherl, and this is John Watson.”

“Hi Mr. Watson, it’s a pleasure to meet ya”, I said extending my hand. He looked familiar, I think he works at the hospital not far from here.

He shook it and smiled. “Hello Miss Jenivieve. How do you know Sherlock?”

“Jen is good, Sherl here is just formal.” Sherlock rolled his eyes as I said his name. I only say it to bug him and it always works. “Me and him met a couple years ago, right when I got out of college. Bout 5ish years ago? I’m not sure” I danced across the room pouring random ingredients into a flask. As it started smoking and turning pink, I bounced over to john. “I’m working on new perfume recipes. Here Dr. Watson, smell this”

“It smells-smells-smells” He collapsed into Sherlock’s arms and he gently set him on my loveseat. As he put John down, I saw him relax a little. I turned back around and set the flask on the cluttered table with the bowl on it.

“My my Jen, you’re getting slow, you used to always have some of that on hand,” Sherlock said.

“Sherlock, my chemistry is a little rusty. I haven’t really been ‘practicing’, haven’t had the need. She walked over to him closing the gap in between them. “Well, we’ve got about 10 minutes to ourselves so darling, what’s up and why do we need to be alone?” she said wrapping her arms around his neck.

He pulled her hands off from around him, “We finished that a while ago Jen, I have a case for us… and I needed to ask for more”

“Oh, so there’s an “Us” now?” I didn’t address his ‘more’ request. I knew it meant drugs but I was trying to stay clean. It had been more than two months and I wasn’t about to break now.

He pretended he didn’t say anything about it. “Just let me finish, three people have been murdered around london, but they all have something a bit different than usual murders. They all had trace amounts of batrachotoxin in their system. I know poisons are kind of your thing,” he said with a small laugh.

“Yea they are,” I said grinning, “that’s a fun one, commonly found in poison dart frogs. Was it the cause of death or were they killed before the poison shut everything down?.”

“They were definitely killed by the poison. At this point, even Scotland Yard has figured out they’re connected.” John started to stir. “Come on Jen, even just a cigarette.. John confiscated everything.”

“Ugh fine lemme find one.” I dug through the drawers in the kitchen until I found a box with some left and a lighter. I handed both to Sherlock but didn’t grab one for myself. I couldn’t stop right now, I was almost at 3 months. “So someone was finally able to find all your stashes? Even the sock one? I giggled at the memory of finding individual cigarettes rolled into his sock index.

“Yes, even the sock one as you call it.” He lit it without so much as even a thank you. He sat down on my couch across from the unconscious Dr. Watson. I cleared the corner of the table and sat crossed-legged on top of it.

As John started waking, I started talking about the case. “So what ties the victims together- beside you know, the poison and them all being dead.”

Sherlock started, “Well they have all-”

John sat up abruptly cutting sherlock off, “What the bloody hell was that?” he shouted at me.

“It was just an experiment,’ I said trying to look as innocent as possible. “Sherlock’s idea.”

“Thanks Jen,” he said rolling his eyes and taking another long draw from the cigarette. “As I was saying, they all visited-”

“Nope, you don’t get to do that. He angrily pointed at sherlock. “You knocked me out just so you could get a cigarette. I’m staying away from those bottles from now on.”

“Fair enough” I said this time, I was the one rolling my eyes. “You’ll be alright. Nothing was long term. Don’t worry, I’m good with my chemicals. Now, if you would like to join us, Sherlock was just telling us about the case.”

Dr. Watson sighed, “Fine. Sherlock, as you were saying.” He still sat kind of warily.

Sherlock looked at me, “For the third time, all the victims visited your flower shop within 24 hours of their death.”


	2. Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That doesn’t matter, it’s for a case!” He yelled and I flinched. For one moment I was transported back to my 16 year old self and Jared was standing over me.

Jens POV

“My shop? Wait, lemme see the victims.” He pulled an envelope from his coat and handed it to me. I pulled out the the pictures inside.

“Victim number one.” sherlock said pointing to the 30 year old asian man. “This is David Nguyen. He was found in the park dead in the river. Nothing around him, nothing connecting him to the others. Victim number two,”- he gestured towards the girl with the fiery red hair “-is Janet Meyer. She was found in her apartment, nothing around her, nothing connecting her to the others. Victim number three-” I looked at the last picture. I.. knew him.

Wait.

Wait.

Wait. 

This can’t. Jared Clare. He was my ex-boyfriend/ best friend/ drug dealer/ a lot of things. It was… complicated. I thought he died in the explosion? I thought he was gone? Well.. I guess he did die now but I thought he was gone a long time ago. He died with the same stupid smirk on his face that I knew he wore. He-

“Jen. Jen. Jen!” Sherlock grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard. “Do. you. know. him? Listen to me, This is important. He was the only one we found anything weird with. Do you know what he was involved with? He-”

“Yes, yes!” I tore his hands off m and got off the counter. I started pacing… “Before you, before college, I met this man. I was fifteen. He- He was 20. I think. It’s all a bit fuzzy, too many um-” I glanced up at John “- distractions at the time. Sherlock,-” I stopped pacing and looked at Sherlock. “We actually need to be alone now. There are some things you don’t know about me.”

 

Sherlock turned to Dr. Watson. “John, go back to the flat, Lestrade will meet you there. He says he has more information.”

“But- but” John looked between me and Sherlock in confusion.

“Just go, please.” I looked up defeated, I wanted to get up and leave but I couldn’t. Not when I was the only one who knew what was happening. John stood up and started walking towards the door. “Please explain later. Bye Jen”

Sherlock closed the door behind John. “So.. What don’t I know?”

“I believe you met Jared a couple years back. He was the one you tried to beat up in the alleyway. Crap job you did by the way, he still walked away. I paid for that you know, oh when we got home.”

“Yes, I remember Jared” He remembered the drunken scumbag he tried to kill for drugs.. and for Jen.”

I started pacing again, “Well like I said, me and Jared met, I was 15. They find you when you turn 15. The Collective, that is. It’s a cult sort of thing. I don’t really know that much about it. I I left before I became an elder. What I do know is there are 24 of us. Age ranges 10 years, um the youngest of us right now is about 24, which makes the oldest 34. We each were trained in a topic and a skill. Um there was art, math, history, technology, science or literature and poison, knives, swords, arrows, medicine or all. I think, I’m not sure about the literature one, it might be something else I can’t remember. It’s all cluttered in my head.

“How did they do this?” sherlock had sat down while I was talking. He pointed to my loveseat, “Sit. Explain.”

“No, I want to keep walking, it calms me. Um where did I leave off? Oh the training.. We were found by one of the older ones when we turned 15, I obviously was found by Jared. I’m not sure how The first one was found, I only know him as Alpha. We all correspond with a greek letter. I am Sigma. I’ve got the greek letter tattooed on my ankle.” I turned my foot to show him. “It was mandatory. They held me down the first week I got there.They- they forced me to-” It was becoming too much, I was panicking. “Sherlock…”

“No, keep going, what was Jared’s letter?.”

I closed my eyes for a second and let out a shaky breath. “Jared is was Upsilon. The only others I know are Omicron, Omega, Mu and Epsilon. I was never around any of the others.” I stopped and collapsed next to him on the couch. It was already 6 am. “Sherlock, I don’t want to keep talking about this. I can’t, I’ve spent the last 5 years trying to forget about this and I don’t need to undo all of that.”

“That doesn’t matter, it’s for a case!” He yelled and I flinched. For one moment I was transported back to my 16 year old self and Jared was standing over me. Sherlock stopped. “Jen- he spoke softer -I need to finish this, lestrade has found two more bodies. John just texted me.”

“Give me a little bit, I need to collect myself. I’m hungry and I have a shop opening in an hour. I’ll help you but no more yelling. Take it or leave it.

“Okay I’ll be back in a couple hours, I’ll have more information then.” He started to rise.

I grabbed his sleeve, “No, stay for breakfast-” I leaned in close to his ear trying to regain my usual confidence. “I need a distraction.” I nibbled his ear and heard a small moan.

He brushed my hand from his coat and stood abruptly, “I will be back at 8 am, goodbye Jen.” He got off the couch and left me. As he walked out of my flat, he didn’t look back. The door closed and I let out another breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding.

I closed my eyes and started to recite aloud, ‘1s2, 2s2, 2p6, 3s2, 3p6, 4s2, 3d10, 4p6, 5s2, 4d10’

It always calmed me. Sometimes it was electron configuration. Sometimes it was the fibonacci sequence, digits of pi, latin conjugations it didn’t matter. Wow, I'm a fucking nerd. I calmed myself and started making breakfast. Two waffles, a cup of strawberries and a picture for instagram. I stayed scrolling through my feed until 6:45. Everything I knew was about to change so I took a couple extra minutes to soak up the normalcy. Everytime Sherlock come into my life it goes all wonky. While getting dressed and fixing my hair, I thought of the victims. Suddenly, It clicked..


	3. Guinevere Doyle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Wow. I had no idea. She didn’t look the cult, theft and breaking and entering type.”

John POV

I got out of the cab and looked towards the door. Why did Sherlock always do this? He’s being mysterious again and I’m left out of the loop. As promised, Lestrade was already inside. I went upstairs and sat down across from where Lestrade was standing. 

Lestrade looked up from his phone, “Hey John, any idea why we’re here?”

“Wait, you don’t know? Sherlock said you found more information”

“Nope, I haven’t found anything since we recovered the bodies. I have a warehouse explosion that he flagged this morning but I don’t know why he flagged it. I have barely any information on it too” Lestrade looked back down at his phone. “Have you seen him today? I’ve been trying to get a hold of him since he texted me to be here but I’ve got nothing so far.”

“Yea, I was just with him. He was at um…” I looked around the room trying to remember her name. “Oh! Jenivieve’s house.”

“Jenivieve? Lynn?” Lestrade groaned and put his face in his hand.

“Um, yea her. We went there at an ungodly hour this morning. Five am? How do you know her?”

“She has been in some trouble. We brought here in for petty theft and we got a bit more than we could chew. When we found her she was using the name Guinevere Doyle. We found a whole box of her things in her car, journals and stuff. There were some things pointing toward a cult but we didn’t have time to look into it. Sherlock said he knew her and she wouldn’t do any harm. We let her go in exchange for him telling us her real name. He said “Jenivieve Lynn” and we let her out. What we didn’t know was that she was going to break in that night and steal all her stuff back before we even got the chance to read it. We were going to hunt her down and bring her back in but Sherlock got mad, told us to drop it. We left her alone and I even forgot about her until now. I can’t believe she’s back and using her actual name.”

“Wow. I had no idea. She didn’t look the cult, theft and breaking and entering type.” The door opened and Sherlock stepped in. Both Lestrade and I jumped to our feet. “Why did you send me back here?” I shouted at him, he looked and Lestrade and spoke.

“I have one hour and I need to be back. What do you have on the explosion in the abandoned warehouse that I flagged this morning?”

Lestrade walked over and handed Sherlock his phone, “All I have is a list of the deceased and the cause. It was a freak accident and there were seven confirmed dead. Um, here scroll down,” Lestrade leaned over and scrolled for him while Sherlock rolled his eyes. “Grace Holloman, Kansas Yancy, Grant Julliard, Jared Clare-

“Stop, I know that name. Text me that list and find out everything you can about what connects those people.” Sherlock grabbed his scarf and practically ran out the door. 

 

Jenivieve POV

I went down to the shop. This couldn’t be happening again. I spent the last five years trying to bury this part of my life and now its resurfacing and coming back for me again. David, Janet and Jared were all in The Collective. I didn’t realize it until now but this definitely has something to do with them. Somebody is going though and eliminating the members. But why? 

I jumped as I heard the door open. “Sherlock! You said you’d be back at 8. You’re never off, what’s wrong?” He was holding Lestrade’s phone and it had a list on it.

“Your ‘boyfriend’ died in the explosion. Do you know anything about it? And why he’s suddenly dead now?” He was shouting again.

I fell back against the wall, “Sherlock, Sherlock! You promised you wouldn’t yell.” Sitting down I put my head in my hands. 

“I’m- I’m sorry. Jen I’m sorry I know how you feel about yelling.” He looked down and sat down on the floor. “Come here, like I used to, come here”

I crawled over to him and put my head in his lap. It was always a little bit weird to be in this position considering how different it was from our normal selves but it helped nonetheless. He usually was so reserved and I hadn’t seen this side of him for a long while. 

“Jen you need to tell me everything about your time in the collective. I need to know everything, you could be in danger.”

I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath. “I’ll tell you, but I want to go back upstairs. Close up shop, I don’t want anyone to see me like this. Moving like clockwork we both got up. He started packing my things while I cleaned up a little. In less than a minute, we were out of the door and I moved the sign to read ‘closed’.

When we got to my flat again I he sat down on the loveseat. I looked at him for permission and when he nodded I sat in his lap. He put his hand in my hair and I sighed. “I was taken at 15, as you already know. “

 

10 Years Ago

I looked outside and it was pouring. Oh my gosh, I was homeless right now. And now I’m going to have to sit outside in the rain. Once school let out I stayed in the foyer. An older boy approached me with a welcoming smile. “Hey, I’m Clare. Jared Clare” He was Asian but he had dyed blonde hair. And one, no three tattoos. Something was unsettling about his smile but I pushed it away. He was hot! Like not regular hot, super kind of bad boy hot. I wouldn’t pass this up, things like this don’t happen to the nerdy loner in the back of class. 

“Um hi, I’m I’m Jenivieve Clare. Wait no no no oh no Lynn. Oh my god Jenivieve Lynn. I’m sorry. I should go.” I turned to leave.

“Aww sweetheart, I wouldn’t dream of it. Already dreaming of having my last name? He swinked and my face heated up. He reached for my wrist and stopped me from leaving. He shot me another smile. “How old are you beautiful?”

“15 I’m 15. I have to get home”

“It’s raining out, let me drive you home.” He started towards the door and turned back to me. Holding out his hand he simultaneously pointed to a nice clean car out front of the school. I grabbed his hand and we walked out together. He went to the passenger side and opened the door. He bowed with a goofy smile and said “M’lady”.

I giggled and got in the car. He want around the other side and started the car. Before he drove he looked over to me. I leaned in towards him and he put his hand up to my cheek. He stopped right before his lips touched mine, “Wait, can I?”

“Um it’s my first kiss, but yes. Um yes please.” I closed my eyes and his lips. Oh they’re so soft. Is this what kissing always feels like? It felt like eternity passed before we pulled away. 

“Wanna get out of here. I’ve got my own place. Let’s go there.” He drove away towards his house. 

“I um sure. Let’s go. I might have lied about earlier. I don’t really have a home to get back to I was just going to stay outside until tomorrow at school.”

“You don’t- have a home? Where are your parents? Well nevermind, I’ll ask you later. Do you want to stay with me for a little while? Just y’know while it’s raining outside.” 

“Yes please, well before we go I need to pick up my stuff. It’s under the bridge over there.” He pulled over to the side and got out. He held up a blue duffel to the window, “Is this yours?”

“Yep, that’s mine. I don’t have much. Let’s go, I want to see your place.” Gaining my confidence I winked at him. “Come on handsome, let’s go.”


End file.
